Acura MDX SUV Forums banner

Half the dash lights out

12K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  jwchapman 
#1 ·
2007 MDX Tech/Ent.

Half of my dash lights seem to have gone out. The HVAC button lights are all out, except the green light for Rear or Dual. Also out are the dash dimmer button lights, steering wheel button lights, and the mirror adjust button lights, as well as the lights next to the shifter and both seat heater buttons. And the blue mood lights in the ceiling are out too. All the buttons do work fine, and the only bulb I'm aware of being burnt is one of the seat heater buttons. The rest of the lights work fine, gauges, audio buttons, dome lights, are all fine, the mic in the ceiling console that stopped working when the mux went bad and the blue lights went out last time, still works.

Went over all of the fuses in the interior fuse box and the two under hood fuse boxes with a multimeter. All checks out. When I pulled the fuse for interior lights under the dash everything went dark. At this point I'm thinking its some connector that's become disconnected. Are all these lights on a same circuit somehow? Or perhaps the multiplexer has gone bad again (had it replaced once already).

Anyone seen this before? How likely is it that I all of a sudden have burnt ~30 button bulbs at the same time? Is there some fuse that I need to take another look at? Any other thoughts? I did find one other post in these forums describing the same issue a while ago, but no useful replies to that one.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
So on a longer drive a couple days ago the lights came back on for maybe an hour, and then went out again. That means it's not the bulbs. I don't think I went over any larger bumps that would have triggered this but I'm still hoping it's just a connector..

Does anyone have a wiring diagram for the dash lights by any chance?
 
#5 ·
Reporting back for completeness.

Figured it out. Bought an AllDataDIY subscription and started going over wiring diagrams.

Turns out that half of the dash lights go through a relay in the under the hood fuse box. There are 3 identical ones there - AC compressor clutch relay, fog lights relay, and an interior lights relay. The interior lights relay though only seems to control about half of the dash lights (hvac controls, dash button lights on the same latitude, steering wheel buttons and the shifter surround button lights), and not really all the interior lights as the label would imply. Swapped the fog lights relay with the interior lights relay and the dash lights came back on, fog lights work inconsistently if not at all. Culprit found. Have a bunch of new relays (for backup) on order.

The dealer wanted $170 to only diagnose. AllDataDIY cost $25. I win.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top